In many conventional wireless networks, higher-priority packet flows receive quicker channel access than lower-priority packet flows. Although this provides for shorter wait times for the higher-priority packet flows, it results in less efficient usage of the wireless channel because the higher-priority packet flows are delivered in smaller aggregates with each burst. The lower-priority packet flows, on the other hand, utilize the wireless channel more efficiently because they may wait longer and may generally be delivered in larger aggregates. Each burst delivery requires aggregation time and a channel access process which contributes to the delay of the aggregated packets. If packets of higher-priority packet flows are aggregated into larger-size aggregates to use the wireless channel more efficiently, the increased delay may conflict with delay requirements and quality-of-service requirements of some of these higher-priority packet flows.
Further, network traffic in some conventional wireless networks tends to be bursty and self-similar. This self similarity may be manifested by the absence of a natural length of a burst. For example, bursty sub-periods may be separated by less bursty sub-periods. This is particularly the case for network traffic that use protocols such as the transmission control protocol (TCP) and the universal datagram protocol (UDP). This bursty and self-similar nature of network traffic should be considered since it may also result in an inefficient use of the wireless channel.
Thus, there are general needs for systems and methods that may use a wireless channel more efficiently without sacrificing quality-of-service requirements of some packet flows.